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“Your parents already left, right?” I ask.
She nods. “They got there an hour ago. Mom’s head of some committee and had to get there early.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s unnecessary. Besides, it’s fashionable to arrive late to events like this.”
“I’m almost certain the person that made that rule was a kindred spirit of yours. Always tardy.”
She throws me a look of indignation. Her phone goes off with a text and she smiles before replying. When it dings again, I decide I’ve exercised enough restraint.
“Who’s texting you?” I ask, trying not to sound too sharp.
Her head swivels in my direction. “Oh, it’s Nora.”
“Your friend from the hospital?”
“Yeah, she was just talking to me about tonight. Which reminds me, I should probably tell you..”
“Tell me what?” I prompt.
“I told Nora the truth. About us.”
Silence follows her announcement. I’m not sure how to take it.
“Are you mad?” Tori asks when I remain quiet.
“No,” I inform her. “I’m just surprised you trust her that much.”
“I’m surprised myself. But Nora’s pretty awesome. I don’t have a lot of friends. I’m usually so closed off. Not just because of what happened to me in college,” she says hastily. “But I went through something pretty nasty in high school, as well.”
“What happened?”
“My boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend at the time. It felt like such a big slap in the face because I trusted them both. I guess since then I’ve just coasted through life waiting for everyone to betray me. But I’m ready to open up now. With Nora. And maybe even with you.”
I stiffen. There’s nothing inherently wrong with what she’s saying, but the words veer into a direction we’ve both steadfastly tried to avoid for a week. Still, I’m not ready to face it right now. So I focus on the other part of her conversation.
“Sometimes, I truly despise people,” I mutter. Astoria’s eyes widen and I quickly clarify, “I’m talking about your fucktard of an ex and your former best friend. They’re shitty people. Period.”
She laughs. “Yeah, they are shitty people.” She sobers up and I feel her gaze on the side of my face. “Are you sure you’re not mad about me telling Nora?”
“Of course not. She’s your friend and you trust her. I trust your judgment.”
She seems appeased and we spend the rest of the drive in silence. We arrive at the art gallery and I realize I forgot one important detail. There’s paparazzi here. Lots of them. Astoria must realize it at the same time because she stiffens.
“Um. We never talked about letting our fake relationship be so public,” she says carefully.
I shrug, removing my seatbelt. “We might as well just roll with it.”
I get out of the car and immediately walk over to her side to help her out. She links her arm through mine. Flashes of light and the click of cameras go off around us, but they leave ample space for us to cross into the venue. I tamp down my irritation. I really hate being in the public eye and this will keep me there for a while.
The only sign that Astoria’s bothered by it all is her tight grip on my arm.
I turn to face her. “It’ll be okay.”
“You can’t just blindly assure me about everything. You’re not a superhero, Carlo. And there’s no magical wand that you can wave to make everything okay.”
“Hey, I’m hearing a lot of doubt when it comes to my abilities. I can do anything.”
